E-commerce · Beauty & Makeup
A lipstick is the cheapest way to try your brand, so it has to be the easiest one to choose.
Lipstick has the largest number of shades and the lowest price of anything in makeup, so a brand with twenty shades has twenty small decisions to explain. Buyers compare by looks, such as nude, berry, brick or a coral that suits a wheatish skin, rather than by names.
A 90-minute audit call and a written, scored report. Turnaround, reporting and term are agreed in writing after the audit.
In one paragraph
Lip makeup is lipsticks, liquid lipsticks, lip glosses, lip liners, tints and lip balms, sold in dozens of shades at a price a first-time buyer will risk. GullySales works on the shade names and swatches that make a lipstick easy to choose, on the way a first lip order is moved into a second, and on gifting and festival sets.
It is also the product most often bought as a gift and as a second or third purchase, which gives it a repeat pattern worth planning.
Last updated 7 Oct 2026. Product, labelling and advertising rules for beauty & makeup differ by product and change. We describe them in general terms, so check the current position with your own adviser or the regulator before you publish a claim.
Who it is for
This is written for you if you sell lip makeup online.
- Brands whose first and best-selling product is a lipstick or a liquid lip
- Sellers with lip crayons, tints and glosses aimed at younger buyers on Instagram
- Brands with a range of nudes and browns for deeper skin that struggles to be found
- Sellers of lip kits and gift sets for festivals and weddings
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- A brand that wants to say a lip product heals or treats lips
- A seller with twenty shades and photographs of only five of them
How buyers choose
What decides the sale of lip makeup.
Shade names and the look
The buyer searches 'nude lipstick for dusky skin' and 'brick red' and looks for swatches on the lips of someone like them. A name such as 'Rosewood' means nothing without a picture.
Finish and feel
Matte, satin, creamy, glossy, liquid matte. Buyers ask whether it dries the lips, feathers or transfers onto a cup, and read reviews for it.
Wear through a meal
The liquid lipstick that stays through lunch is the one that gets recommended. Buyers read for whether it lasts, whether it cracks and how it comes off.
Ingredients and who it is for
Vegan, cruelty-free, fragrance-free. Buyers with sensitive lips ask about it, and the list should be on the page in full.
Where sales are lost
What usually goes wrong when you sell lip makeup online.
In the words sellers use on the first call.
“Nobody can pick between twenty shades”
The grid of colours is a lot of small squares. Buyers click one, hesitate and go away without buying.
“People buy one lipstick and that is all”
A lipstick is a gift and a trial, and the buyer who liked it has no reason to come back unless something offers a second shade or a liner.
“Our liquid lipstick got reviews for drying”
The review says it cracked after an hour. It was the lipstick on dry lips with no balm beneath, and the page never said to prep.
The scope
The work we would propose for lip makeup.
Measured on purchases, conversion rate, cost to win a customer, average order value and repeat purchases. Anything here that needs a platform or tool we have not used with you is confirmed in the audit before it goes in the scope.
- Shade pages by lookGroupings such as nudes, berries, reds and corals, with swatches on three skin tones, so the buyer picks a look and then a shade.
- A try-three setA mini or a trio of shades chosen by look and skin tone, offered next to the single lipstick, with a note on what each suits.
- Gifting and festival campaignsSets and campaigns ahead of Karva Chauth, Diwali, weddings and Valentine's Day, with the dates stock must be ready by.
- Videos of a day in the shadeCreators wearing one shade through a meal and a cup of tea, filmed unedited and tagged to the product page.
- Next-shade messagesA message after delivery that suggests the shade closest to the one bought, a liner to match, and a gift set when an occasion is near.
What we do
What you get for lip makeup.
Each deliverable and what it is there to change.
A shade map by look and skin tone
One page that groups every shade by look and shows each on light, medium and deep skin, as a lip swatch and an arm swatch.
A first-order trio
Three shades chosen for a stated skin tone and occasion, priced as a set, with the reason for each shade written beside it.
A prep and wear guide
How to prepare lips, apply a liquid matte and remove it, so that the review about dryness is answered before it is written.
A gifting set page
Sets for festivals and weddings with a gift note option and a stock date, for buyers who are choosing for someone else.
How the result is measured
- Purchases
- Conversion rate
- Customer acquisition cost
- Average order value
- Repeat purchase rate
- Second-shade orders from first-time buyers
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
How it works
From your first message to the first report.
No open-ended retainer. Every step gives you something in writing.
First
Free audit call
90 minutes with whoever handles your enquiries: how they arrive, how fast they are answered, where they are lost.
After the call
Written, scored report
Six areas scored, fixes ranked by return and cost. If you want our help, the scope, the fee and the reporting come with it, in writing.
Before work starts
Baseline recorded
Enquiries by source, reply time, conversion and cost per order, written down so every later report has an honest comparison.
After the baseline
The first fix goes live
Usually the cheapest one on the report: reply time, a follow-up sequence or the marketing-to-sales handover.
As agreed
Report against the baseline
What moved, what did not, and what changes next, in plain words. How often you get it is set in writing before work starts.
At renewal
Renew on the numbers
The term ends and you decide whether to continue from the results. The length is agreed in writing before anything starts.
What we need from you
What to have ready before the audit call.
None of it has to be tidy. We read what you have.
- Your shade list with sales by shade
- Swatch photographs by skin tone, if you have them
- Reviews that mention dryness, transfer and longevity
- Gift and festival sets from earlier seasons and what sold
- Instagram posts that brought orders
Selling in India and abroad
Selling lip makeup beyond your own market.
Where you sell decides sizes, units, seasons and returns. We work from Bengaluru and have no overseas office, so for a new country we start from your own sales and the platforms you already use.
Colour additives and labelling
Lip products are eaten in small amounts without meaning to, so colour additives and labelling are checked closely in some markets. Your adviser confirms what a formula and label need before it is sold abroad.
Shade preferences differ by market
Gulf buyers lean to deeper nudes and reds, UK buyers to a wide range of pinks, and the shade you push first should come from your own overseas orders.
FAQ
Questions about selling lip makeup online.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
How many shades should a first lipstick range have?
Do lip sets sell better than single lipsticks?
Can I say my lip balm repairs chapped lips?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
More in Beauty & Makeup
Sellers of lip makeup also need
Also selling from a shop, a workshop or a warehouse? See the page for salons and beauty studios and personal care brands.
This page is part of the e-commerce section. The D2C brands page covers the arithmetic of acquisition cost and the second order for any brand.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Engagement options
Ways to work with us.
Pick the size of commitment that fits. Every option starts with the free audit.
Option 1
The audit on its own
A 90-minute call and a written, scored report. It says honestly whether you need outside help, and many fixes are ones your own team can make.
Option 2
One fix, scoped
Start with the fix the audit ranks first, such as reply time or follow-up. The fee is in writing before anything starts.
Option 3
An ongoing programme
We run the work, report against the baseline, and you renew on the numbers. The term and the reporting are agreed in writing first.
Option 4
Guidance for your own team or agency
We plan, brief and check the work of your in-house team or current agency, instead of replacing them.
The offer
Start with a free audit of how your lip makeup sell.
It is useful on its own, whether or not you hire us.
What you receive
- A 90-minute call with the person who will do the work
- A written, scored report on the six places orders leak
- Every fix ranked by what it returns and what it costs
- The one thing to do first, and why
- An honest line on whether you need outside help at all
- If you do, the scope and the fee in writing
No invoice. No obligation. No sales script.
Your next practical step
Get a free audit of how you sell, and a scored report of where the work is.
90 minutes. A written, scored report. No invoice and no obligation.